


Reservations

by FrozenSnares



Series: Benefits of Detention [5]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, F/M, Kissing, Mostly Fluff, Shireen POV, Some Swearing, Valentine's Day, date, protective rickon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 16:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2856881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSnares/pseuds/FrozenSnares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rickon and Shireen go out for Valentine's day and run into Shireen's ex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reservations

Shireen was milling about her house absently, trying to distract herself from the fact that she needed to leave soon. It was Valentine’s Day, and Rickon had told her that he made plans. She was to pick him up at six o’clock sharp. The last few days, Shireen had calculated the drive to the Stark’s home more times than she could count. She was determined to be on time, but she had managed to get ready far too early. She’s been wearing her light green dress for the past hour, has combed her hair seven different ways, and has changed her choice of coat and shoes five times each.

It was Shireen’s first Valentine’s Day with Rickon, and it was her first Valentine’s Day with any boyfriend. The prospect of spending the evening with Rickon was making her anxious. Part of her wanted it to be over already, and the other part of her wanted the evening to last as long as possible.

Shireen was finding another reason to make a circuit of the room when her father walked in.

“I thought you were going to get Rickon?” he asked.

“I am,” she sighed. “But if I leave now, I’ll be too early. I can’t be too early.”

Stannis laughed at his daughter. “Just leave now. Or you’re going to ruin yourself waiting for him.”

Stannis walked to the door, pulling out a set of keys.

“I have my keys, Dad,” Shireen told him, holding up her keys for him to see.

“They’re for me,” Stannis said shortly.

Shireen raised her eyebrows at her father. “You’re going out? Tonight? With who?”

Stannis rolled his eyes at his daughter. “Just a friend.”

“A _friend_?” Shireen asked, biting her lip.

“Yes, a friend,” Stannis said. “Now, I should be off, and so should you.”

“But it’s still too early!”

“Better early than late.”

\--

At five minutes to six, Shireen was parked down the street from the Stark’s home. She had been there for seven minutes, debating about whether she should actually go in. What if they were doing something? What if Rickon wasn’t ready? Rickon had definitely said “six o’clock sharp,” and that had to be important, right?

Letting out a heavy sigh, Shireen glanced at the clock. Only a minute had passed. Throwing her head back, Shireen turned her car on again and decided that she’d just show up early. She parked in their driveway and tried to resist storming up to their front door. She had definitely ruined herself by waiting around beforehand. Shireen went to the front door and rang the doorbell.

The door opened immediately and Rickon stepped outside. He swept down to kiss her on the check, tucked her arm in his, and began walking her back to her car. “We have to leave now,” he said in a hurry. “My parents are driving me crazy.”

Shireen laughed. “What are they doing?”

Rickon rolled his eyes. “I think they’re trying to give me a sex talk.”

A bubble of laughter escaped Shireen, even though she was blushing fiercely. She unlocked her car and let Rickon direct her to their destination for the evening. Rickon easily steered the conversation away from his earlier sex talk with a deliberate “Who do they think I am? Robb?” and moved onto an ambiguous list of things he wanted to accomplish for the evening. After a few minutes of driving, Rickon had Shireen pull into a parking lot.

“Wait, we’re not going here?” Shireen asked, looking up at the restaurant decorated with faerie lights outside. “Crownlands is the fanciest restaurant in King’s Landing.”

“That’s _why_ we’re going here,” Rickon said, rolling his eyes. “Only the best for you.”

In a haze of disbelief, Shireen followed Rickon into the restaurant. She resisted the urge to tell him that they needed a reservation and figured that she could use her last name to get them in if need be. She ended up being worried for nothing, as Rickon had apparently called ahead a month ago. They were seated at a small table for two, and a waiter poured them each a glass of water before leaving them to their menus.

“You called here a month ago?” Shireen asked, trying not to let her face display her shock. “What would you have done if something happened and we couldn’t make it?”

Rickon shrugged. “Sell the reservation, maybe? Or someone would have been really lucky tonight.”

Shireen laughed, sipping at her water. She was trying not to steal glances at Rickon. She was supposed to be figuring out what she wanted to eat, but she was preoccupied with looking at him. His auburn hair looked darker in this lighting, but his blue eyes had the same light in them as always. He had definitely dressed up for today. He was even wearing a tie. Shireen remembered how much he hated ties.

“You can take that off, you know,” Shireen said without thinking. 

Several people around them turned to give her shocked looks, and Rickon was trying hard not to choke on his laughter. He picked up his water glass before putting it down, realizing he couldn’t hold it safely.

“I meant your tie,” Shireen mumbled. She tried to ignore the looks they were getting, but she knew they had a new reason for staring now. She never left it behind, no matter where she went, it always happened.

Rickon’s entire body was shaking with silent laughter. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take something else off, too?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Shireen bit her lip to try and hide her embarrassment. Looking at Rickon, she realized that she made the wrong choice because the look he was giving her was far from innocent. She quickly tried to put on a calm face and ignore the previous banter. Rickon slid his chair back and leaned into her.

“And now you’ve just made me laugh too much,” Rickon said. “I need to go to the bathroom. To take care of _things_.”

He passed her chair, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head as he disappeared from sight. Shireen settled into her seat, overly happy that she was here tonight, despite how open Rickon was about _those_ things. It must be one of the perks of having several older siblings, she decided. She definitely could use some more opening up. Shireen glanced around the restaurant for the first time, watching happy couples quietly converse in their own bubbles. A swelling of pride floated into her chest, knowing that she now joined them. A soft sigh escaped her lips.

“Shireen?” someone called from behind her.

Twisting in her seat, Shireen turned to find Edric Storm standing behind her. The first thing that she noticed was the girl on his arm. She had long blonde hair and massive breasts that were emphasized by her extremely tight red dress. Shireen forced herself to look at Edric instead. He shushed off his date and sat across from Shireen. She was immediately irked that he took Rickon’s seat.

“What are you doing out here tonight?” Edric asked. “Just wanted a nice meal, or were you stood up?”

Shireen took a deep breath, trying not to be annoyed that those were the only two options he thought up. She bit her tongue.

“You know, I felt really bad after we broke up,” Edric went on. “I mean, I needed to move on. I didn’t want you to feel bad about it, but I couldn’t restrict myself like that. You know what I mean?”

People were starting to look over at them. They probably realized that Edric looked nothing like Rickon, and Rickon had made quite a spectacle of himself. A small blush crept onto her cheeks at the memory.

“Oh, don’t feel bad,” Edric said, mistaking her blush. “I mean, you’re here – brave of you – but we’ve moved on. And someone’s bound to like you despite your…” He gestured weakly to her face.

Shireen looked down at her lap. Her fists were balled up, and she really wanted to throw something at him. She decided on her water, knowing that it would wound his pride the most. She looked up at his stupid grin for one second before he and his chair went flying across the open floor. Her mouth dropped open in shock. Eventually, her eyes moved up to find Rickon standing next to the table. He looked positively murderous.

“Oops,” he said flatly.

Edric was getting up and rubbing the back of his head. A definite lump was growing there. 

“What the fuck, man?” he shouted. “I was trying to have a nice conversation with my ex-girlfriend. She’s all alone, in case you haven’t noticed. I mean, what kind of self-respecting guy would go out with her?”

Shireen watched Rickon’s hands curl into fists before he released the tension, taking in a deep breath. Rickon stepped forward. He towered over Edric, but Edric might be cowering at the look in Rickon’s eyes.

“No, you weren’t,” Rickon said softly, but the entire restaurant was dead silent. Every word pierced the air sharply. “You were trying to insult this girl because you think you can do better than her and she doesn’t meet your standards of pretty.”

“Whose standards at pretty does she meet?” Edric scoffed. “Have you seen her face?”

“I have, actually,” Rickon said steadily. “Kissed it, in fact.”

Edric looked disgusted. “You’re kidding, right?”

Rickon turned to face Shireen and asked, “This is your ex, right?”

Shireen nodded.

“He never kissed you?” Rickon asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Shireen was very aware of the entire restaurant watching them, but she nodded again. She watched as Rickon tried to master his anger. She was aware that he wanted to ask her another question, but he changed his mind and turned to Edric. Edric looked frightened.

“Alright, asshole,” Rickon said, raising his voice. “I’ll let you off this once, but if you ever insult my girlfriend again, _I will end you._ Understood?”

“You’re dating _her_?” Edric choked out.

Shireen watched the tension ripple through Rickon’s body as he landed a punch squarely on Edric’s jaw. Boy, did he know how to throw a punch. And he looked quite sexy doing it. Rickon turned to Shireen and offered her a hand.

“Come on,” he said curtly. “Let’s go somewhere with better clientele.”

Shireen took Rickon’s hand, and he pulled her to her feet. He took her coat off the back of her chair and helped her into it before he led her to the door. A manager of the restaurant was approaching them, and Shireen became aware of the silence around them. She tugged lightly on Rickon’s hand, and he turned to face her.

“They want you to kiss me,” Shireen whispered.

“Well, I don’t care about them,” Rickon said. “But would you like a kiss anyway?”

Shireen nodded slowly.

Rickon gripped her hand, pulling her flush against his chest. He cupped her left cheek with his other hand and kissed her full on the mouth, not sparing their spectators the adoration he was pouring into Shireen. She sighed against his mouth, gripping his side and trying to pull him closer. He obliged, stepping into her and crouching down to prevent a break in their kiss.

Some indeterminable amount of time later, they broke apart. Shireen was breathless, and Rickon smiled at her. The entire restaurant exploded in applause. Shireen looked down at the floor, blushing in full. Rickon grabbed her chin and moved her face ever so slightly to press a kiss to her cheek, bringing another round of applause. Rickon rolled his eyes as he led Shireen back to her car. Shireen noticed that he was smiling.

“You know, I kind of feel bad for them,” Shireen said, starting her car.

Rickon raised an eyebrow at her. “Why’s that?”

“Those poor boys will never be able to match your display of masculinity,” she said. “All those girls will be looking for someone like you, now.”

Rickon snorted. “Yeah, well, now we need somewhere else to go,” he said. “But I’ll need to make sure to get us a last-minute reservation.”

Shireen watched Rickon pull out his phone and send a quick text message. Not one minute later, he got a response. He smiled.

“Alright,” he said. “Let’s go.”

He once again gave Shireen directions as she drove around the city. After a solid thirty minutes, they pulled into the Stark’s driveway.

“This is your house, Rickon,” Shireen said, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, it is,” Rickon confirmed, getting out of the car.

Shireen followed him to the porch. “But why are we here?”

“My family may be awful,” Rickon said. “But they would never insult you. Easily a step up from that stupid restaurant.”

Shireen rolled her eyes. “I meant, why did you make me drive around for thirty minutes?”

Rickon pulled out a key and unlocked the door. “You’ll see.”

In the entryway, Rickon helped Shireen out of her jacket and shoes, letting her get more comfortable. He also pulled off his tie and threw it onto the table with the keys. Rickon let his fingers drag across the silky fabric of her skirt as he beckoned her into the kitchen. Sure enough, there were lit candles placed around the table and wine glasses already filled. Rickon led Shireen to a seat and pushed in her chair for her. Then, he disappeared into the kitchen.

Shireen eyed the wine glass, noticing that the liquid inside was extremely dark even for low light and it was also slightly bubbly. She almost reached for the glass when Rickon came back, carrying a pizza box. He placed the box on the table and took the seat beside her.

“Pizza?” Shireen asked.

“Perfect for Valentine’s Day,” Rickon said, grinning. He opened the box, revealing a heart-shaped pizza inside.

“And the wine?” Shireen asking, reaching for her glass.

Rickon grabbed his as well, clinking it against hers before they both took a sip. Shireen felt the carbonated syrupy liquid fill her mouth in a very recognizable flavor.

“Root beer?”

“It’s very romantic,” Rickon said, taking another drink.

Shireen couldn’t help but smile at the obvious effort his parents had put in for this impromptu date. She would definitely have to thank them later. For now, she resolved to simply enjoy her time with her perfect boyfriend.

“It is,” she said softly.

Rickon leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Shireen.”

**Author's Note:**

> This ship is destroying me. I can't stop. Tell me if you have any requests regarding this/other ship(s) and settings. I will comply the best I can.


End file.
